Big O or Mr. Clutch?

The NBA in 1960s and 1970s has often been described as “The Era of the Big Man”. On any given night, NBA teams were starting four, five, even six future Hall of Famers like Pettit, Russell, Wilt, Bellamy, Thurmond, Reed, Unseld, Kareem, Cowens, Malone, Walton, and McAdoo. Consider that from 1958 to 1980, a span of 23 seasons, only one non-center won an NBA MVP award.

While the pivot players were garnering so much attention, guards were steadily ushering in a whole new era of basketball. By the late ‘70s, everybody referred to “Showtime Basketball”. Just who was leading this transition? Who was the best guard of the ‘60s and early ‘70s? My dad and I had this debate more times that I can remember.

The 60’s began with Bob Cousy an All-NBA player and the most recognizable guard in the NBA. By the mid-‘70s, Pistol Pete, Clyde Frazier, Earl the Pearl, Tiny Archibald, and others were playing a game that perhaps only Cousy could have imagined in 1960. At the crest of the wave, however, rode two players who begin and end the debate – Jerry West and Oscar Robertson. They were a list of two with everybody else far down the page … or better yet, they were on an entirely different piece of paper. But who was number one? I say Big O; Dad always said Mr. Clutch. I’m betting that my dad and I weren’t the only father and son arguing the point.

Draft Day 1960

It’s draft day and an impossible choice faces you if you are the GM with the number one pick. Two of the greatest college players ever have finished up their careers. In their senior seasons, Jerry West, 6’2”, averaged 29 points, 16 rebounds and 4 assists for West Virginia, while Oscar Robertson, 6’5”, averaged 34 point, 14 rebounds and 7 assists for Cincinnati. How do you choose between the two? And by the way, does anybody remember that these two guards were such prolific college rebounders, or that West out-rebounded the Big O in that senior year? Amazingly well-rounded games - such complete players.

Fate would be the arbiter of this decision, for it just so happened that the Cincinnati Royals had the top pick of the 1960 draft, thanks to a 19-56 record the prior year. The owner, the GM, and the head coach would have had to get out of Dodge had they selected anyone except Big O. Sorry, Jerry, you are number two. (NBA History Trivia: Who is the third future Hall of Fame guard selected in the 1960 draft – the answer at the end of this article).

What Do the Numbers Say?

Back to the question: who was better? West and Big O would go on to play 14 seasons, retiring in 1974, and entering the Hall of Fame together in 1980. Their statistical production was unbelievable. My dad and I threw numbers back and forth at each other until we realized that the numbers by themselves didn’t help. West: 25,192 career points, 27ppg, 6rpg, 7apg. Big O: 26,710 career points, 26 ppg, 7 rpg, 9 apg, not to mention the only NBA season ever averaging a triple double (1962).

Okay, so let’s start focusing on accomplishments. All Star games: West, 13; Big O, 12. All-NBA appearances: West, 10 first team and two second; Big O, nine first team and two second. For a span of six straight seasons, the first team All-NBA backcourt was West and Robertson – shouldn’t somebody apologize to the rest of the guards in the league?

I always thought I won the father-son debate with this: not only did Robertson win the Rookie of the Year award over West, but in 1964 he is the only non-center to win the league MVP in that span of 23 years that I mentioned before. West never won the regular season MVP. Dad always countered with West’s ’69 Finals MVP, the only time a player from the losing team won the award. The debate continued.

Robertson was the more physical player of the two. Over his first five years in the league, he averages a mind-boggling triple-double – 30.3 ppg, 11.3 rpg, 10.6 apg. (No, Magic Johnson did not invent the triple-double, although NBA marketing would like you to think so.) Big O was the first player to average 10+ assists in a season, and the only guard to ever average 10+ rebounds. With six assist titles to his name, Robertson’s production, like all players, begins to fade in his 30’s, although the passing skills and numbers are always there.

West was the better shot and more of a finesse player. His shooting mechanics were flawless. His image is silhouetted in the NBA logo – that’s pretty impressive. Furthermore, later in West’s career, the Lakers were without a point guard, so they converted West from the two-guard to the one. In ’72 at the age of 33, he leads the league in assists per game while still averaging nearly 26 points. The NBA creates the All-Defense team in ’69, and West is on the first team from ’70 to ’73. And in his final season at the age of 35, the first season that the NBA tracks steals, West records 81 steals in 31 games, including 10 steals in one game, still a Laker record. That was Dad’s one-two-three punch. He focused on longevity … he was older than me. Still no resolution to the debate.

Forget the Numbers, What About Championships?

I’ll warn you now, this isn’t going to be much help, because NBA championships in the 1960s start and end with Russell and the Celtics. Still, let's take a look. Oscar’s Royals played in the East (after ’62), West’s Lakers in the West. Three times in the ‘60s, O’s Royals lose to the Celtics in the playoffs, two other times to the Chamberlain-led 76ers. Six times, West’s Lakers lose to the Celtics in the NBA Finals. Neither of these great players wins a championship team until the Celtic dynasty has past.

In 1971, Big O has moved on to the Milwaukee Bucks, where he teams up with a guy named Lew Alcindor (many of you probably only know him as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) to win the ring. As if their careers remained tied at the hip to the end, the next year, West and the Lakers win a championship, thanks in large measure to Chamberlain. Dad and I never debated the championships.

Settling the Debate

Stats. Awards. Championships. Longevity. How do you separate these guys? Who was the best? Dad and I never reached a conclusion to our debate. Unfortunately, he passed away a number of years ago, so we never will. Reflecting on West and Robertson a bit, I guess that’s where the debate belongs – unresolved. Two of the greatest guards ever, helping to transform the NBA with arguably the most complete set of skills the league had ever seen. Co-captains of the 1960 gold-medal Olympic team, drafted one and two, All Stars nearly every year of their careers, six consecutive years as the first team All-NBA backcourt, retired the same year, entered the Hall the same year. There’s just no separating them. I think I could get Dad to agree with me on this.

Oh, I almost forgot. For those of you keeping score, Lenny Wilkens.

The Triple-Double - Just Another Day at the Office

In 1942, Teddy Ballgame led the American League in batting (.356), homers (36), and RBIs (137) – the Triple Crown. Williams lost the AL MVP to the Yankees’ Joe Gordon (Who?). In ’47, Williams repeated the feat, this time losing the MVP to DiMaggio. It’s been 40 years since we’ve seen one of these endangered animals, and I’ll bet that some of you probably can’t believe what you are reading. Triple Crown does not equal MVP – huh? And what does this have to do with basketball? Well, keep reading.

In the 1920s, Rogers Hornsby does it twice, but wins only one MVP. In the 1930s, four players record the Triple Crown, but only two win their league’s MVP. If you are keeping score, that’s three decades, eight Triple Crown winners, and only three MVP awards. Baseball experts who really know the pre-1950 game will tell you that for a long time, members of the Baseball Writers Association of America valued the best player on the best team more than the guy who put up the numbers. I don’t dispute this, but I don’t think it represents the entire story. The other factor in all of this is that there was a time in baseball when the Triple Crown wasn’t so unachievable. In fact, it was accomplished by six different players in a span of less than 30 years – that’s not exactly baseball immortality.

By the 1950s, however, the Triple Crown is becoming more rare, and its achievement therefore more celebrated. Mantle wins both the Crown and the MVP in ’56. And the last sightings of this species occurred with Frank Robinson in ’66 and Yaz in ’67, and both earned MVPs. If a player today won the Triple Crown, you can bank on unbelievable media attention and a unanimous MVP. Now on to hoops.

The Triple-Double
In basketball, a triple-double is defined as a player achieving double digit total (meaning 10 or more) in three of five statistical categories in a single game: points, rebounds, assists, blocks, steals. It’s safe to say that recording a triple-double is a reflection on the depth and breadth of a player’s skills. Today, when a player records a triple-double, it’s headline material. Since the 1980s, the NBA has gone out of its way to market the greatness of the few players who could produce several triple-doubles in a season - players like Magic Johnson (138 career triple-doubles), Larry Bird (59), and today’s Jason Kidd (83 and counting). Great players.

So all that hoopla got me thinking one day. What makes the triple-double such a big deal today? I think the answer has a lot in common with baseball’s Triple Crown – rarity. It’s special. We don’t see it very often. And that’s a good reason. But that realization then brought me to my second question: Has it always been so rare?

The 1960s
The triple-double came to be defined by Oscar Robertson. The Big O entered the NBA in ’60-’61 as an unusually gifted player. At 6’5” and playing the point, he used every big of his size, speed, and quickness. Over the course of his first five seasons, he averaged 30.3 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 10.6 assists per game. Mind-boggling. His second season in the league, he recorded 41 triple-doubles and averaged a triple-double for the entire season – never done before or since. (By the way, the Splendid Splinter might have been comforted knowing that O did not win the MVP that year, that is, if he ever paid attention to anything except baseball and fishing). For his career, Big O registered 181 of these gems, a record that still stands today, 43 more than next-in-line Magic Johnson.

Okay, that’s enough about Oscar. Who else is putting up numbers? Well, there’s always Wilt. Chamberlain would record 79 triple-doubles during his career – a time when the NBA did not keep official stats for blocks and steals. Makes you wonder how many games Wilt the Stilt managed 10 blocks.

Everyone knows Wilt for his scoring and rebounding, but his statistical onslaught takes a new direction when he leads the league in assists in 1968, the only NBA center ever to do so. During that season, on February 4, 1968, Wilt achieves something that I think is even more improbable than his 100 point game. He records a “double-triple-double” (for lack of a better term – 20 or more in each of three categories) – 22 points, 25 rebounds, and 21 assists. The only player ever to do it. Finally, no disrespect to DiMaggio’s 56 game hitting streak, but Wilt records nine straight triple-doubles that season, and I’m betting that’s a streak that out lives Mr. Coffee’s 56.

The Extraordinary Seems Ordinary
Oscar records 41 triple-doubles in ’62; Wilt 31 in ’68. All from points, rebounds, and assists, none on steals or rebounds. The 1960s was a time when records were being set by the giants of NBA history. If you are an NBA fan, you are witnessing the only center to lead the league in assists per game, and the only guard to average 10+ rebounds per game. And you are probably thinking that this is just the beginning of the greatness to be achieved in this sport. The extraordinary was happening all around. For Wilt and O, it's just another day at the office.

One factor that contributes to the statistical achievements of this era is the incredible number of minutes logged by the stars. Future Hall of Fame players like Wilt, Oscar, Russell, Jerry Lucas consistently play 3600, 3700, even 3800 minutes in a season (last year Gilbert Arenas led the league with 3383). Who was Wilt’s backup? It is reported that Red Auerbach once suggested John Thompson take a coaching job, because he wasn’t getting on the floor with Russell around.

You can’t fill up the stat sheet if you aren’t on the court. The greats played almost every minute of almost every game. In ’62, Wilt records the single most preposterous statistical achievement of his career when he averages more than 48 minutes per game for the season. This in no way diminishes from the statistical achievements of these guys. Quite the contrary, they are logging unbelievable minutes, putting up ridiculous numbers against some of the greatest players in the history of the game, long before expansion watered down the talent. And they made it seem ordinary.

The Rare is Rediscovered
The triple-double all but disappears from the NBA in the 1970s. There’s a lot happening to professional basketball during this decade – some good (ABA, merger, and expansion), some not so good (drugs, fights on the court). With attendance down and the league in financial trouble, Fate awakens and in step Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Not only will they save the league, but they finish their careers number two and four respectively in all-time triple-doubles. Once again, the spotlight will be dominated by players who master all facets of the game.

In the NBA’s efforts to cash in on its good fortune, however, the giants of basketball history are glossed over and the new heroes of the game are marketed like never before. To this day, for example, sports analysts talk about Magic “redefining” the point guard position because he was unusually tall for the position, had great court vision, and could fill up a stat sheet wherever he was needed to win a game. Hello – anybody remember Big O?

Today
Let's fast forward. I love following the play of Jason Kidd. His versatility, the breadth of his skills, the flashes of Maravich passing – he is one of a handful of players today who has truly mastered the game. With the size, athleticism, and shear number of players in the game, I keep expecting there to be more Kidds on the floor, but I can't find many of them. Wade? Garnett? Kobe?

And the triple-double? Maybe it really is as rare as today's game makes it out to be. And maybe that's one more reason to separate O, Wilt, Bird, and Magic from the rest of the pack. Let's hope Jason Kidd's career doesn't end any time soon.

I can’t help but remember, however, that Wilt and Big O made it look ordinary, and that a single decade once witnessed the careers of six players who recorded eight Triple Crowns - Hornsby, Foxx, Klein, Gehrig, Medwick, and Williams.